But, contrary to what some thought, he wasn't an idiot. As he stood on the roof, he recognized one simple fact. He had absolutely no idea as to where he should start looking. For all he knew, he could start looking somewhere, like Minato, and find nothing, since the path towards his friend would start somewhere else, like Adachi. Even if it was still in the same ward, he couldn't be sure that he would be looking for Soun in a place that could give him answers. And that even that held that the Tendo patriarch wasn't already in another part of the country, like Kyoto, or Sapporo, or wasn't on the move, like if he was looking for his daughters right then.
No, running about like a chicken with its head cut off wasn't going to do him much good, especially considering who he'd be facing off with. These guys were of the sort that lived in the shadowed alleys of big city life, and wouldn't mind doing nasty things. Drugged drinks, a knife in the back, or even bombs weren't beyond the usage of some of them. Many Yakuza and Triad members were honorable in their own way, but he wasn't going to be handling those guys. If nothing else, it wasn't going to be straightforward to work with that situation, and he didn't want to screw around when he could be actually be doing something to help his friend.
Genma might not have been all that interested in getting a 'book' education, and knew that he would never make a good politician, but he was something of a strategist. Fighting was the life that he knew, and, though it wasn't from laziness this time, he wasn't about to fight when he didn't see himself getting anything out of it. About all that it would get him would be the 'opportunity' to have his son and Soun's daughters unguarded, and that wasn't exactly welcome. He might as well put up a sign saying 'gangsters, enter here' if he was going to do that.
Not that it would have been all bad. They were all teenagers, with all the hormones, fantasies, and curiosity that came with it. All it would take would be the right mix of circumstances, and the kids would fall right into it. What with what had been going on, sooner or later, the boy would fall into some sort of compromising situation with one of the girls, and nature would take its course. Sex wouldn't even have to be the real draw, as it would merely take some sort of... accord to get things started. At their age, they had as many daydreams and fantasies as they had an ease of following feelings, and he didn't mind at all.
Still, it'd be best if they had an adult presence around. Besides the legal issues that'd prevent, they needed guidance. The Tendo sisters were looking to his son for leadership, the boy was clueless, and the whole lot needed someone to point them in the right direction. He winced as he considered the possibility of turning his son into a modern equivalent of a feudal lord, but it didn't seem to be all that likely that he could do much else. At least his son had 'retainers' who were actually capable of being useful, rather than some silly children off the street. Even a maid would have been helpful, but, given what he had seen in that strange place that one time, there were all sorts of 'roles' that he couldn't understand the need for.
After all, what good would it do someone to have taken a person to become nothing more than a cheerleader, able to do nothing useful, and look good doing it?
As it stood, he basically had no other choice than to stay and hunker down, preparing the home for some sort of battle or another. It might not be the easiest thing to do, but he would have to take that direction, at least until he got a clue about his old friend's whereabouts. Not that he'd be calling for reinforcements, given that what he'd likely get would be something like a teenaged girl looking for redress of old... agreements, or his old master, who he wouldn't want around any attractive female of the human species. Of course, he wasn't about to call his wife, and that didn't come from having the latter possibility in existence. Rather, he wasn't all that certain that having Nodoka around would be for the best, though he knew that he did have reason to be concerned for her safety. The thing was that he was also worried about his own continued ability to breath, eat, and think, all of which would have aspects that would need something above his neck.
All in all, he'd have to stay around, and make sure that things went the way that both he and his old training partner would want them too. It wouldn't always be pretty, or simple, but he'd just have to work with what he had available. Luckily, it seemed that the sisters were rather accepting of his son, what with the welcome that they'd given him. That hadn't been exactly the sort of thing that he had expected, but, right now, he was going to work with what he had.
In the mean time though, he had other things to do, and he could see reasons to them, while:
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(Posted Sun, 19 Aug 2007 09:16)
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